And now for something completely different

I wrote about car parking and residential parking permits in Greater Greater Washington. My solution: a Dutch Auction, in which all bidders wear wooden shoes and whoever eats the most gouda wins the windmill full of tulips. Actually, a Dutch auction is a descending price auction and "winners" pay no more than the lowest price at which the final item sells out. I learned about it from an episode of Slate's sports podcast Hang Up and Listen. I think it's a neat idea and not totally unworkable. Of course, practical limitations, such as politicians never wanting the price of street parking to go up and constituents revolting over any suggestion that it might, will most likely stymie this entirely hypothetical plan. Nonetheless, I will continue to listen to podcasts from which to harvest other inactionable public policy ideas.